


Wings of Fire Oneshots

by Nightblaze



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: A collection of oneshots, Multi, Rejection, Unrequited Love, actually there will probably never be, angst sometimes i guess, have fun, here are my stupid ships, no regular updates, not a lot of happy endings, probably grossly ooc at times, sorry about that, they're not connected unless stated otherwise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-31 02:32:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6452011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightblaze/pseuds/Nightblaze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which I collect all my stupid oneshots into one place. Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. an almost maybe

The memories were like paintings floating through the vast emptiness of her mind. Just out of reach but still there. She wasn't even sure she wanted to remember.

There had to be a reason those certain memories had been pushed away, locked up in her mental prison.

The first time Sunny had reached out to those memories, it had been like a rush of pain and confusing slamming her in the head so hard she had a headache.

There had been two NightWings, a male and a female. The male, she collected, was named Starflight, and the female Fatespeaker. Sunny knew them. She knew she _did_ , at least.

_It had been a quiet night in the Rainforest Kingdom. Birds chattered softly, peacefully, and the wind rustled overhead as natural white noise. The small hybrid dragoness had been sitting beside Fatespeaker, knowing that she shouldn't really be there. But the comfort of sitting in Fatespeaker's wings was great and she didn't think she ever wanted to move._

_It was when the half-asleep Fatespeaker had murmured Starflight's name as she snuggled closer that Sunny realized that how she felt about Fatespeaker was more than a normal friendship would allow. She wouldn't feel so jealous and crestfallen about hearing the barely audible voice of the NightWing saying something about Starflight if she was just her friend._

_So Sunny had stayed there, feeling hollow and empty and alone even in the company of the resting black and purple figure next to her. When Fatespeaker showed signs of waking up, she slipped away and didn't say a work about it when she met her later in the day._

The current Sunny frowned and stood straighter, letting the memory fall back into its rightful place, stored where she could easily remember it. Tentativly, the gold dragoness reached out to the next one, worried it might be rejection or sadness. But it was quite the opposite.

_Warm, humid days. Laughter in leaf huts. Play fighting and games of truth or dare. Grins and friends and happiness. Laying down in her own hut and feeling cold - so, so utterly cold. Where were her wings? No more black wings curling around her small frame._

Shaking off the loneliness from the last reminisce out of her head, Sunny once again grabbed for the next memory and the next. What had happened? She knew everything about herself - the war, the fake prophecy, Morrowseer, Kestrel...

So why didn't she grasp much about these two NightWings?

_Half-asleep under cozy black wings like usual. Two purple eyes suddenly staring back at her. Confusion and awkwardness but Fatespeaker didn't leave. Maybe a dust of blush on the NightWing's cheeks but it was too dark to tell. Curling closer together and still not mentioning it when morning came._

Then, more and more came flooding back - unwanted memories of dragons in lava and shouting and arguments and... What happened?

_Fatespeaker and Starflight with an egg. When had that happened? Sunny smiled and congratulated them._

_Fatespeaker shooing her away when Sunny tried to crawl under her wing like always. What had changed? No words were exchanged when morning came. Nightmares plagued her mind through the night with no wings to protect her._

_Sunny making a bitter comment about it a week later. Fatespeaker spat out a retort. Did she really think that? Tears, crying, sobbing, what had gone wrong?_

_Being contronted. Do you love me? I have no idea. How do you not know? I do, but I don't want to make it awkward. It already is. True enough, true enough._

_Rivers and water and rocks and blood. Falling, falling, falling, not even her own wings could protect her from this._

Suddenly, Sunny wished she hadn't remembered everything, because this meant she had spent almost three months ignoring someone who she loved dearly.

Someone who still visited her early in the morning, just dropping off some food and leaving with no name and no trace.

Someone who Sunny should've remembered a long time ago. She had hit her head on something and lost any recollection of Fatespeaker and Starflight.

Speak of the devil - the former walked into the hut carrying a mango and several peaches. She was about to leave, but Sunny gathered up her broken courage.

"Fatespeaker."

The NightWing froze. "Do... Do you... Remember?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I do."

"Three moons, Sunny!" Fatespeaker laughed with delight, throwing her wings around the dragoness in a hug. "Me, Starflight and Mythweaver were getting so worried..."

"Mythweaver?" Sunny asked softly, feeling the bitterness crawling back into her. "Is that your dragonet? They hatched?"

Fatespeaker nodded enthusiasticly. "She's so adorable! You have to come meet her!" Sunny smiled in order to match the grin spread across Fatespeaker's face. "Come on, then!"

Sunny followed Fatespeaker, still overwhelmed by the returning memories but not caring because the dragoness she loved was right there, in front of her... Sunny stopped moving for a moment. Fatespeaker and Starflight's dragonet. So there really wasn't any chance for her, was there?

"Sunny?" Fatespeaker's voice drew the hybrid dragoness from her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Sunny said, although her tone suggested otherwise. "I just... I don't know if I'm ready to see your dragonet."

Fatespeaker's face immediately fell. "Oh. Alright."

"It's nothing against you or Starflight!" Sunny quickly amended. "I just... I'm still remembering things."

"Sunny," Fatespeaker started in a serious tone, "A while ago I asked you a question and you told me nothing. So I'm going to ask again: Do you or did you love me?"

Sunny froze and she shook. "I - Um... Y-Yeah. I do. I think."

"I'm sorry," Fatespeaker mumbled so quietly Sunny didn't think she was supposed to hear. The NightWing spoke louder next. "Then what am I to you?"

"A maybe," Sunny answered, scraping the ground with a talon.

"A maybe?"

"Yeah. An almost maybe." Sunny ducked her head, flinching when Fatespeaker reached out, presumably to comfort her. "Don't. Don't, Fatespeaker."

"I just wanted to-"

"I know. I know," Sunny muttered, standing up. "I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry..." She shook her tawny-golden head, pacing for a moment. She glanced at Fatespeaker, who looked utterly helpless, and she shut her eyes again.

The princess started running. To where, she wasn't sure, but she heard Fatespeaker calling after her.

Sunny didn't stop running and didn't look back. She wouldn't - couldn't - look back.

Almost maybes would never be enough for Sunny.

So she settled for nothing at all.


	2. my dear old friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turtle always hated being alone. But when it's this absolute, it's like drowning in a deep, dark abyss.
> 
> aka Peril is dead and Turtle doesn't like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> songfic of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKzQCexQ-dY

Turtle fiddled with a twig he recently plucked from a tree branch. Two weeks.

Two weeks of what, exactly?

Two weeks of bitterness. Two weeks of depression. Two weeks of denial. Two weeks of being thrown about the five stages of grief like a puppet. Two weeks of being alone and weeping silently because oddly enough, tears and choked sobs weren't enough to convey sadness.

Two weeks of Peril being _dead._

Dead. Deceased. No longer with us. Six feet under. Unable to be retrieved. Gone. Gone. Gone.

Maybe Turtle couldn't wrap his mind around that because he was still writing letters and notes to the fireborn SkyWing.

_Dear Peril, how was your trip to the Kingdom of the Sea?_

_Dear Peril, did you get to meet any of my siblings?_

_Dear Peril, if you are reading this, please get out before I realize this is some cruel, stupid prank. Or, if you're a ghost, get out before I see you because everything will be ten times harder when you leave again._

Turtle kept twirling the twig in his talons, picking up a recent note. _Dear Peril, why did you die? It wasn't supposed to end like this and whywhywhywhy._ Several short sections after that were written in and scribbled out, like he had been deciding to keep it or not. In reality, Turtle had written most of the letters in a fit of grief and had no idea what the said.

Skipping to the end of the scribbles, Turtle swallowed the tightness in his throat. _I love you._

Another note: _Dear Peril, why do you seem so focused on Clay? He thinks of you as a weird sister. Can you just look at me for once?_ Turtle suspected he had been especially bitter writing that one.

And just then, Turtle remembered a song sung by a forgotten band ages ago. He scrambled quickly over to another piece of parchment. He wrote the lyrics as he reminded himself of them, holding back tears as he got to certain bits.

The melody of the song came rushing back, and Turtle made himself finish the lyrics before singing. His voice was raspy and broken, but he found it made the song sound even more heartbreaking. "But both of us will take this hand, for a couple of days, then we'll disappear. We don't have to talk of where we go from here..."

"We'll toast what could have been, my dearly departed."

"I don't know how to mend it, but this chapter ended when all of my plans have depended on you. But at least tonight we still pretend, hold each other close like it's not the end... And you can send me balloons, and we can laugh of the doom, we both thought of that, doesn't it say something too?"

"Every masterpiece I'd write again, you'll always be my porcelain..."

"We never set the cards, they're all still on the table. I wanna throw 'em out but I'm just not able... My dearly departed..."

"My dear old friend..."

Who knows how many times the lonesome SeaWing sang the mournful song, but by the time he stopped, his voice had grown even more hoarse. He picked up his twig and once again starting flipping it his talons, staring at the muddled brown floor of the cave. He sighed and gave into the few tears that welled in his eyes. Snapping the worn twig in his talon, Turtle crumpled onto his nest and sobbed.

And perhaps, the faintest silhouette of a SkyWing sat there, staring at the notes littering the ground, not letting herself cry but doing so anyway.

Perhaps that SkyWing drowned two weeks ago and she cursed herself for not confessing to Turtle.

Perhaps that SkyWing sat there for a long, long time, staring at Turtle small figure as the muffled wails reached her ears.

Perhaps that SkyWing wanted to say something and have Turtle hear her, see her, sense her, something. But she read those notes.

Perhaps that very same SkyWing clenched her translucent talons and left without a trace.

Perhaps that was how it was meant to be.


	3. dark of night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One night, Greatness found a lonely NightWing. Several months later, she watched him go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this contains mentions of PTSD as well as insomnia.

Maybe it was seeing two of his close friends brutally torn apart and their blood running onto his talons or maybe it was fate. Scratch that - it was most definitely the first. Post-traumatic stress didn't come out of nowhere. Starflight knew that.

The last drops of sunlight were swallowed into the dark abyss before the NightWing could convince himself to return to his den. He knew he could try to catch a blink of sleep but he would be awake after barely fifteen minutes. Starflight sensed something out there, and if you combined that with chronic insomnia, and, well... Sleep was a battle.

Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Glory and Sunny's mangled corpses, blood pooling, and all he heard was Morrowseer's sadistic voice, repeating over and over: "It was your fault. You couldn't save them."

Starflight thought he would never even blink again. But blinking was needed, so he did blink, but any attempts at sleep were often futile.

He was tired - Starflight was so, so tired. But he couldn't sleep. Not anymore. Not now, not ever, and definetly not when he heard subtle wingbeats grazing through the silent and cold night air.

The crisp, clear voice of the new RainWing queen, Astrapia, was unlike the friendly and affable tones of other RainWings. "Princess Greatness of the NightWings... Your tribe shall be welcomed into the Rainforest Kingdom, but you shall not. As the crown princess of the NightWings, you are expected to take your late mother's place, but in this case I shall rule over both tribes. You are hereby exiled from the Rainforest Kingdom. Any dragon who encounters you on Kingdom grounds has every right to treat you as an enemy. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Queen Astrapia," Greatness replied, refusing to let the fear make her voice tremble.

"Then leave." And she did.

The sun soon descended down into the greedy horizon, and Greatness flew on the gentle breeze directing her towards the Sky Kingdom. The wind suddenly died and she flapped her wings to gain more height. Only a moment later, she spotted a fellow NightWing staring up at her, shock-still and eyes wide. His wings were pressed up against his sides and his posture was rigid.

Greatness frowned and lowered herself down to the NightWing - she was outside the Rainforest Kingdom, anyway, so it wasn't like it mattered. The terror in the new NightWing's eyes was, itself, quite scary.

His voice was quiet but demanding, although not intiminating. "Get away from me."

Greatness made no indication she was going to move. "Who are you?" she gruffly asked, perhaps harsher than she had meant to.

"...Starflight," the NightWing whispered, shrinking away from Greatness's loud voice. "Don't you recognize me? You put me through torture. You killed my friends." Starflight's voice seemed like it belonged to a mouse.

"I have never met you," Greatness insisted, taking a step forward. The small, annoying diamonds wrapped around her horns clinked together as she moved.

"Get away, Morrowseer!" Starflight yelped, shutting his eyes tight as if it would make Greatness disappear.

The princess frowned. "My name is Greatness. Morrowseer is dead. The volcanos killed him."

Starflight uncertainly forced his eyes open. It was possibly one of the longest times he has closed his eyes while he was consious. "Morrowseer won't die. He never dies. He's always here."

"No, really, he's gone. I heard him screaming behind me as I evacuated the island. Why did you think I was him?" Greatness asked, trying to approached Starflight. They were still several feet apart and it was awkward to talk from far away.

Starflight's eyes widened again and he leapt backward, shaking violently. He didn't answer Greatness's question. "And you're telling the truth?"

"I hate to lie."

\--

It was a clear night and Starflight was still awake. Greatness heard him shift and then exit as quietly as possible. She blinked open her eyes like she often him - Starflight would try to stay asleep, she knew, but it was never the case.

"Sorry, Greatness," Starflight apologized like he did every time.

"Don't be," the exiled princess replied, sitting beside the smaller NightWing. She looked up at the stars and wondered how long it had been since the day they met. It was probably around six months. Then, Greatness pondered how long it had been since she realized how she felt about the timid dragon.

And then she realized it was right then when she actually acknowledged it.

And she burst out laughing.

Starflight looked concerned for a moment but then smiled and chuckled lightly. "What are you thinking about?"

_Just about how much I love you and your dorkiness,_ Greatness sighed, only realizing she let those words actually fall out of her mouth until Starflight went stiff.

"Is my so-called dorkiness so big it requires being mentioned in your confession?" Starflight joked halfheartedly. Greatness didn't speak because her voice had suddenly died two seconds after she spoke. "Yeah, alright, I probably love you too."

"Probably? Thanks, Starflight," Greatness snorted, lightly leaning against him.

"Does definitely work for you?"

"Yeah, it does."

"Good."

Soon enough Greatness fell back asleep, and when she awoke, her heart dropped to her talons. Starflight was gone and in his place, a scrawled note lay. "Dear Greatness," she read aloud, "I'm sorry." After looking over the rest, she rushed outside and shouted for the scrollworm, flying in circles, hoping that it was all a joke and she would find him when she returned.

At the end of the day, the den was alone and Starflight's nest was cold.

The note still lay there, a reminder of what could have been.

_Dear Greatness,_

_I'm sorry. I really do love you. You kept me anchored during panic attacks and put up with my restlessness. That's all I could ask for._

_But there's someone else. If I let myself stay with you, I would be betraying her. I don't even talk to her anymore and I never will get to talk to her again, but she trusted me and I can't let her down._

_Please understand. But hate me, if you could. It would make this a lot easier._

_Goodbye,  
Starflight_


End file.
